Electric Line Mishap?????

[teamtree]

I am not a line clearance guy. I have been in the business for 15 years in mostly residential work. I usually steer clear of any primary electrical lines and try to avoid service drops if possible. I sent a crew out to put 3 trees on the ground while I had a meeting. I told them if they wanted they could fold the boom over and go under the wires and then up or they could climb the tree. The tree was more than 10 feet from the primary (one top wire, one bottom wire). It was a small tree and could be climbed easily.

My boss and I get a call from the foreman asking if he should call 911 because they knocked down the power lines. 1000 thoughts went through my head.....first, is everyone ok? yes....what happended???? Details were unclear. Told him to call 911 and we would head that way.

One of the crew members, who had a couple years of line clearance before he came on with us, took the bucket truck over the top of the primary and reached down......both lines touched the cylinder and blew the lines in half. I could not believe it.

I have never done anything like that and if it came down to going over the wires....I would call the electric department to get the lines covered, at a minimum.

I am was really suprised by this whole situation. My question is this a typical thing to do in line clearance work....to try to reach over wires???

 

[2treeornot2tree]

I dont do line clearance work but I have seen the guys that do, do some things with the a bucket that I wouldn't.

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[imagineero]

The boom obviously had no LV cover? Sounds like your 'line clearance' guy has been telling a few porkies.

 

[treeclimber101]

Do you take any responsibility for sending an inexperienced crew to do that ? Lucky all they did was tear them down and damage the truck . Part three of that story coulda involved a BBQ . I don't do lines for one I am not certified and lack enough experience to know when I am out of my league . So I always treat them like the plague . Just call it in if you have time to wait they will clear there lines

 

[MarquisTree]

Going over the wires? Everyday for propery trained personal in dielectric certified bucket trucks. No contact allowed. Certainly ignoring all of the warning stickers all over the boom saying that the knuckle is uninsulated, and pushing it intothe phases is always a bad idea.
What kind of bucket are you running? Is there significant damage to the cylinder? Did you get a bill from the utility company for causing an outage and damaging their equipment?

 

[treeclimber101]

This configuration ?

 

[capetrees]

OSHA involved yet?

 

[Zale]

Telling your guys to go under the wires when no one is qualified is very bad advice. If my boss gave me the choice to either climb a tree or use a bucket, I will use the bucket 9 out of 10 times. The buck stops with you.

 

[tree MDS]

Telling your guys to go under the wires when no one is qualified is very bad advice. If my boss gave me the choice to either climb a tree or use a bucket, I will use the bucket 9 out of 10 times. The buck stops with you.

I assumed he meant go overcenter and under the phone and cable, get what they can, then go over the power. Pretty standard for that kind of work I imagine.

 

[treeman75]

This configuration ?

How low are those lines?

 

[Zale]

Sounds like they couldn't go under so they tried to go over.

 

[tree MDS]

How low are those lines?

Who cares. Looks like they're in the next neighborhood anyway. lol

 

[treeclimber101]

How low are those lines?

Wee low lol

 

[rtsims]

Not line clearance certified but work with a good Asplundh crew around here. I believe they keep the lower boom 10'away from primaries according to there chart, "minimum approach", is what I think they call it, don't quote me on that. They have another minimum approach for the upper insulated boom, and they go up and over the lines every day, and under on occasion. I sure as **** hope no one was touching the truck or chipper when it contacted the lines. I'm with 101, I stay WAAAY clear of any f n energized line.

 

[pro94lt]

did they finish? Did the truck stay running or any other details... did it melt anything on the truck?

 

[treeclimber101]

How many microwaves fried in the fiasco ?

 

[teamtree]

Thanks for your replies.

I will try to answer all questions.

I accept responsibility for my part in the problem. I feel like I sent a crew out that was experienced enough to do the job as instructed. We will be recieving a bill from the electric company (local municipality). Truck seems to be ok but it is being sent to be inspected. Plans are being made to do some EHAP training. One of the owners of the company was on site when the job was being done and he was the one that ignored my instructions. I have the most experience in the company but I am not an owner of the company. I am trying to get the decision makers to see they need more training. I am a big believer in it. They think they are running a professional outfit but are severly under trained compared to some true professionals in the industry. It was an eye opening experience. So many things went wrong...I hope I can get them to take things more seriously.

 

[teamtree]

I appreciate all the constructive criticism. We reviewed the job and the mishap and we have so many people to blame. At the end of the day...the responsibility lies with me and the owners of the company. I can guarantee, it will not happen again, if I am involved with the job. I take this seriously and I am open to suggestions on how to improve my work.

 

[Iustinian]

Line clearance crews are typically allowed to come within 2 feet 4 inches of service and primary lines, no closer. I was a foreman for a large line clearance company, and we routinely went over or under the lines, as long as we did not break minimum separation distance of 2'4". They used to be allowed to go through the lines, what they called "splitting phases" but are not longer allowed to do that. Residential crews are NEVER allowed to break minimum approach distances of 10'. Residential crews are not supposed to perform work in a tree if any part of the tree is within 10' of the power lines; they are supposed to either get a line drop on service lines, or call in a "make safe" in which the line clearance crews will trim the tree parts back to a point where it is safe for the residential crew to perform their work -- in most cases, the power company is required by law to perform this service and are usually very easy to work with. As a foreman or business owner, it is your duty to know this, as well as make sure that your crew understands and complies with these rules. 1. You are extremely lucky that there was not a fatality as a result of this accident. 2. This accident was directly a result of negligence on your part, as well as your crew. 3. You will be very lucky if you are not slapped with a huge fine, a shutdown of your business with authorization to resume only after you and your crew has attended multiple safety compliance classes. 4. You will be lucky if your insurance company doesnt drop you and blacklist you. -- I wish you the best, but move forward by learning the rules of this industry, training your crew accordingly (and documenting your training and instructions with them), and demand compliance. THE RULES WERE WRITTEN IN BLOOD BEFORE THEY WERE WRITTEN IN INK.

 

[Higs2013]

You are very lucky that nobody was killed, Up here in a Boston suburb there was a fatality in Holliston Massachusetts this past July. A young kid no older than 30 got his non insulated man lift into the primary top wire and the system neutral the bottom wire at the same time. The system neutral is a dead ground and when contact was made the lift burst into flames blew the kids hand off and his crew processed to watch him burn because the lift was not insulated. Even once the fire and police got there they could do anything cause the line was still hot. The kid died later at the hospital lucky for him he was burnt badly and life would have been worse than dying. Get your crew certified ASAP, I am an electrical lineman and I know for my job a tailboard pre job meeting where the job in full scope is discussed and our minimum approach distance for whatever voltage we are working on is covered. Once done the crew signs it the job begins. Whenever there is an accident in our field of work tailboard is the first thing "they" meaning OSHA look for. Good luck hope this is an eye opener for the guys on the crew and the company. I know for a fact that my company will cover any and all lines if need be to keep tree guys safe, so try reaching out to whatever utility a job in a similar situation before and they will work with you to keep the guys safe.